Paradoxes of Faith

These aren't my ideas, but I've noticed them in my faith for a long time and have made them my "own". I recently read a classic (G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy) that put into words what I had been thinking for so long, but hadn't been able to put into words myself. This is my attempt to put those ideas into my own words.

I've been thinking for a while about the paradoxes in Judaism and Christianity. Basically, things that are fundamental to a deep faith, yet seem to be contradictory. Things like "Grace" that says we can't earn our salvation (I find a lot of this in David's writings too, not just the New Testament) vs. the effort required of us in living out our faith. Or the importance of both fearing God and having a deep love for God. Here, too, David displayed both of those seemingly opposite emotions.

Somehow the tension between the two sides of the paradox is what gives power to it. The picture that came into my mind as I thought of these was, of all things, a water balloon launcher. You have to have two strong guys firmly holding their opposite positions in order for the water balloon launcher to work at all. If one guy or both are not strongly positioned opposite each other with a third pulling in the middle, then there is no power in the launcher because there is no tension.

Our two opposing ideas (or paradoxes) of faith are the two strong guys at the front holding the ends of the rubber tubing. The power comes when a human, in dependence on God, pulls back the "balloon pocket" and releases all that tension in a powerful way.

Let's try out these two paradoxical ideas:

1. We have infinite worth to God and
2. We are steeped in sin from birth.

These concepts seem to be entirely at war with each other. We have a really hard time holding both those ideas in our heads at the same time. We tend to either think too much of ourselves, or we tend to think we are worthless to the exclusion of the other. Most of us wouldn't admit to either extreme, but it's usually there in varying degrees on different days and even time of day. For me, I swing between the two. I often play messages in my head that say "I'm worthless" (partially due to my growing up with undiagnosed ADD) or I tend to compensate with completely unrealistic images of grandeur that are just as wrong. Each of these occur at times when I'm focused on myself instead of God and how he views me.

Here's David in Psalm 51:

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. ...You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Yet in the same Psalm, he doesn't just wallow in self-pity, he boldly asks God to heal him and make him right:

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

It's obvious that David's relationship with God has transformed him enough to give him deep insight into the character of God. That even though David acknowledges in stark terms how badly he's messed up, he also knows that we are of infinite worth to God, and that God wants to restore us to a right relationship with God.

Here is David in Psalm 139:

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

David's deep personal relationship with God and acceptance of these two paradoxical ideas allowed him to fall hard, yet get back up, admit his guilt and get back into a close relationship with God. That is real power that I don't think you'll find from any faith except the one designed and founded by the one that designed and founded our universe and its residents. That is, the one who watches intently as each of us is formed and then watches intently as we muddle through our lives as David often did.

Hmmm, there's another paradox. A God who is infinitely wise, great and strong, yet who cares so intimately about each of us that he watches our unformed bodies in our mother's womb... and elsewhere it says that He knows the number of hairs on our heads.

As Chesterton said, Judaism and Christianity are the only religions that have the gall to say that, essentially, "You can't think too much of yourself" and "You can't think too little of yourself". There's some real tension there, and I have a feeling I will spend the rest of my life working out what that really means. But the power in that tension I've already started to experience.

Joshua and the Gibeonites

A few years ago, God really convicted me about how I had let myself become molded by the "reality" of this world (and even the "reality" presented by my church upbringing) rather than keeping my mind molded to God's reality through his word. The "Believing God" Bible study I did this summer with my wife really reinforced those ideas for me and challenged me to think again about the areas in my life where I've concluded God either can't touch or doesn't want to touch.

What do you think? Are there areas in your life that are sore spots for you that you want God to change, but are afraid to ask? Or maybe you've asked and God hasn't answered like you wanted but it's still a sore spot. Or maybe you are afraid to ask because you are afraid you are not up to it and that you'll just mess it up. Is there something you are afraid to fail at?

I think sometimes God really wants us to wrestle with him over issues. Occasionally he just wants us to ask with faith and sit back and watch him make his own name great, but not always. Other times, and this is where I'm sensing he has me right now, He wants us to ask with faith and give everything I have to get the issue resolved.

In Exodus, Joshua and the Israelites made a pact with the Gibeonites under false pretenses. They messed up big time because they didn't ask of God. But when the 5 other countries heard about the pact and decided to go wipe out the Gibeonites, God didn't say "You made your bed, now sleep in it", Instead, God went to battle for them to help them honor their pact. In the process, though, God didn't just tell them to sit back and wait for him to work like he did in Egypt for them.

The Israelites made a 20 mile trek through the night in full battle armor. And when they got there they had to fight an uphill battle... with no sleep after their trek. And when it looked like the Gibeonites were going to slip away Joshua knew and believed God enough to ask God to make the sun stand still... and God did it. And as the Gibeonites were fleeing, God made hail fall on the Gibeonites and kill them without killing the Israelites. More people were killed by the hail than by the Israelites (If I remember the story right... I don't have much time and I'm writing this from memory).

Why couldn't God have just sent the hail the night before and killed them all? Because God sometimes wants us to give our all in pursuit of what we know to be God's will. Our action in faith does more to strengthen our faith sometimes than our passive faith.

So, what is it that you think God want to change or do in your life? And are you willing to give your all in the belief that God will provide what you can't? It doesn't have to be "big" like win a million people to Christ, but it is probably going to be a stretch for you. Something you are maybe afraid of, but really want to do or be free from.

I have to stop now, but take care. I'm praying that God will bring something to your mind, and that you'll have the faith to accept it as being from God.

- Jon

Love and Judgment

I've been intrigued with the idea of God being both loving and also judging so this statement of David's really jumped out at me this week:

Psalm 62:11-12

God has spoken plainly, and I have heard it many times: Power, O God, belongs to you; unfailing love, O Lord, is yours. Surely you judge all people according to what they have done. (NLT)

In the same breath, David talks about God's love and his judgment of everyone according to what they have done.

How does that fit, we ask? I think a key to David's thinking is found three Psalms earlier in Psalm 58.

Here, as David often did, he is talking against evil men. But this time he explains in a different way what he means by evil men. They are ones who both do evil (we all have by God's standard) and have stopped their ears and don't want to hear the truth:

v4-5 ...they are like cobras that refuse to listen, ignoring the tunes of the snake charmers, no matter how skillfully they play.

So why is God loving when he will someday punish sinners? According to verse 10 it is for those who have been made good in God's eyes:

v10 The godly will rejoice when they see injustice avenged.

Haven't you ever seen or heard of some injustice and hoped that someday wrong will be made right, or at least punished? Don't we rejoice when justice prevails and evil men are brought down, never to perpetrate evil again? Those feelings reflect (albeit imperfectly) God's character of goodness within us.

But the other reason is that David wants God's name made great throughout God's creation:

v11 Then at last everyone will say, "There truly is a reward for those who live for God; surely there is a God who judges justly here on earth."

So, there's some food for thought. God's love and goodness mandates his punishing of all sin. Our sin (every single little one of them) will either be paid for by us, or it will be paid for by Christ. The choice is up to us (in many respects), but it must be paid for so that after the judgment day, none of us will ever perpetrate evil on anyone ever again.

Greatness and Humility

"When God has an impossible task, he takes an impossible person, and breaks him" (unknown author)

If you have a desire to do great things for God's kingdom, don't squelch it with platitudes about being humble and such. That may very well be the evil one speaking to you.

There is truth to the importance of humility, but if being humble means you give up on wrestling with God to break you so thoroughly that his greatness can just beam through you, then you are really missing out. Then you don't understand God's greatness and you don't understand how deeply God wants to bless you and make your name great.

Because the greater his children become, the more his character will be revealed both on earth and in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 3:10). Just don't expect it to be a cakewalk.

I know I'm not giving the whole picture, so feel free to help complete it in the comment section.

Godly Sorrow

David (in the Psalms), Jesus, Paul, and Jeremiah to name a few often showed godly sorrow. Here's a short article by John Piper on the types of godly sorrow. Godly sorrow shouldn't be shied away from because it is a sign of God's spirit and presence in our lives, both over our own failings and the failings of those around us.

Read it here:
There is a Way to Be Happy, Even in Sadness, by John Piper

Pain and Prejudice

I'm curious about other peoples reactions to this article by Paul Coughlin:

Pain and Prejudice

For me, it really resonates. And I think this article puts the finger on why I have such a burning desire to see men transformed by God. From my own experience and observation, men in general seem to be rather adrift in our society. We've started to believe the subtle lies that our strengths are not valued, and we're checking out. We're checking out of the church (even if we still attend) and we're checking out of our marriages. And instead we're checking into careers (at the expense of family), affairs, online pornography, making lots of money, whatever will dull the pain and help us feel successful and alive again.

I still remember when I realized back in the early 1990s that I really believed that the world would be a better place if men were just more like women. I realized that I had been believing it a long time, and that belief was the source of a lot of the pain in my life at the time.

I pray that the evangelical church in America will wake up to the tremendous resources and energy that we are squandering with our subtle messages to men. I don't think it is something we can change overnight because it's become part of the air we breathe. Most of us don't even realize it's there, just as I didn't. And I'm still waking up to the extent to which it permeates my thinking.

As always, feel free to disagree... :-)

Confessions of a Whiner

I have a confession to make. I'm a whiner. And like Alcoholics Anonymous members say, I'll always be one. But I'm recovering. I'm usually too proud to whine to other people. But God? Now that's different. "God, you've dealt me a short hand" "God, why do things have to be so hard for me?" "God, please please please change my difficult circumstances!"

But something happened a few years ago. I started reading the Psalms each morning, and they started to sink into my soul. As the months went on, my focus started switching from myself to God and his character traits.

David's Psalms could be considered whiney by some because he often laments his circumstances, but he had an entirely different attitude in the way he went about it and I think it is a key to his greatness. He always did it with his focus being on God and God's character traits. Read Psalm 41 below:

For the choir director: A psalm of David.

1 Oh, the joys of those who are kind to the poor. The LORD rescues them in times of trouble. 2 The LORD protects them and keeps them alive. He gives them prosperity and rescues them from their enemies. 3 The LORD nurses them when they are sick and eases their pain and discomfort. 4 "O LORD," I prayed, "have mercy on me. Heal me, for I have sinned against you."

5 But my enemies say nothing but evil about me. "How soon will he die and be forgotten?" they ask. 6 They visit me as if they are my friends, but all the while they gather gossip, and when they leave, they spread it everywhere. 7 All who hate me whisper about me, imagining the worst for me. 8 "Whatever he has, it is fatal," they say. "He will never get out of that bed!" 9 Even my best friend, the one I trusted completely, the one who shared my food, has turned against me. 10 LORD, have mercy on me. Make me well again, so I can pay them back! 11 I know that you are pleased with me, for you have not let my enemy triumph over me. 12 You have preserved my life because I am innocent; you have brought me into your presence forever. 13 Bless the LORD, the God of Israel, who lives forever from eternal ages past. Amen and amen!

Notice how he starts off reminding God what he knows about God's character. He praises God for being kind to those who help the sick and poor and rescuing them from trouble, etc. And before he tells God about how bad things are going for him, he confesses his own sin (verse 4). I think that's important. We have to know and follow God so closely that we don't have any illusions about our own innocence, because we mess up all the time. And then after he tells God about all the bad things people are trying to do to him, he praises God again.

So here's my synopsis of Psalm 41: Praise God! Woe is me! But praise be to God because at least he is faithful!

Recently, I've gone through some difficult times as I've started to trust God and face fears that I haven't been able to face for years because my focus was always on myself instead of on God. I think it's from the Psalms that I learned to develop a new reflex when a fear of mine pops up, which is sometimes many times a day. I praise God and the fear leaves. I tell God something about himself that gives me encouragement. God doesn't need the reminder, but I do. It's awesome; and now I understand where David got his strength to keep going through difficult times without crumbling.

If we men want to become truly strong and truly wise and make a difference that will last far beyond our own lives, I think we need to actively absorb the Psalms to the point where we can face trouble like David did, with God and his attributes as our focus.

If you haven't spent much time in the Psalms, make the time each morning looking for God's character traits that you can use when you interact with God (like David did). I'll be praying that you will make the effort and that the practice will change your life as it has mine.